Thursday, June 24, 2010

On Tuesday Tanner finally got his first haircut! For a boy to go over 14 months before his first haircut is kind of crazy. We kept saying we needed to get it done but we just hadn't gotten there yet. My mom came over to see how the kids were doing and gave them both a haircut while she was here. Since I was holding Tanner and she was cutting we didn't get any pics, but I do have some after shots. He no longer has a mullet! Hooray!

Over Father's Day Weekend Izabel complained a lot about her mouth hurting. I thought maybe it was her teeth or something and kind of left it alone. By Sunday she had sores in her mouth and on her bottom. She was barely eating because her mouth hurt and she would scream every time she put something in her mouth. Monday morning I took her to the Dr. where they confirmed it was Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. Who knows where she got it from but it's very contagious so we have been stuck at home all week. All that I can give her is Benedryl so we came home and she passed out on the couch.

Of course by the end of the day Tanner had it too so I gave him some Benedryl before bed thinking it would help both of them sleep. I was SO wrong. It has the opposite reaction on some kids and evidently Tanner is one of them. He was literally up ALL night. At about 4:30am I put him in his crib, shut my door and let him cry. He cried forever and then a little while later Izabel got up! Not the greatest day for me. The next night wasn't much better but now today they both seem much better and we are starting to get some sleep. Hopefully by the weekend all the sores will be gone and we can rejoin the world outside of our house!

And for some random pictures...

Izabel painted a birthday card for Mrs. Sherri...

she may have had a little help with the message :)

Izabel and Tanner hanging out at Ocean Breeze...I'm afraid this may have been where they picked up the virus, but of course they could have gotten it anywhere!

For Father's day I got up with the kids and let Noah sleep in. After a while we couldn't wait any longer so we went in and woke him up. We gave him all his presents! I got a variety of little things that he had been wanting - a new flag for the front porch, two new movies (From Paris with Love and The Hangover) some new flip flops, a new ODU football t-shirt, and some of his favorite treats! We played for a while, all took naps, and then headed over to my mom's house for a cookout and pool party. We got my Dad an ODU football shirt as well and part of his Ocean Breeze season pass. He loves getting to go with us all the time and he is alway excited for any excuse to spend time with the kids! It was super hot so the pool felt great! Nana, Aunt Ann, Aunt Phyllis, Aunt Judy, Glen, Amy and Ray, Keith and Michelle and Tristan all joined us for the celebration. We also celebrated Matthew's graduation. It was a great time and I think Noah really enjoyed his relaxing day! Thank you for being such a great husband and daddy and for working so hard to take care of us! We love you to the moon and back!!!

A few of Daddy's favorite thingsTime to get up Daddy!Having fun in the poolIzzy and Daddy hanging outMe, Tanner and Anddaddy! What a great way to end the day!

My youngest brother Matthew graduated from Kempsville High School last Wednesday the 16th. We were all really excited that he made it and I'm sure my parents are happy to pretty much be done raising kids! We are all grown ups now and starting to live our own lives. Matthew has a summer job and is considering going into the Navy soon. We all agree that it is the best move for him and hopefully it turns into a great career. Congratulations Matthew - we're very proud of you!

We'll start with the last two weeks of school. As I talked about in my last post, we lost one of our seniors about two weeks before graduation. Her name is Jessica Starr and she was in my class for the last three years. Since I teach an elective, if a kid likes the class I tend to keep them for most of their high school career. We travel and do lots of after school stuff so I get really close with these students. This particular student was in the fashion show and had spent a lot of time with me after school gathering supplies and preparing for the show. I took her passing very hard. I was completely exhausted and drained all week. I went to her viewing and then the funeral. It was so painful to not only say goodbye to her and watch her family grieve, but to watch all of my other students grieving knowing there was nothing I could do but be there for them. Just when I thought I couldn't cry about it anymore I'm sitting here in tears while I write this! The funeral was beautiful and it even had some students asking the preacher questions about God and being saved which is always a blessing, especially in hard times. The school excused my class that Jessica was in from taking their final exam. They could take it if they wanted to, but sitting in that room with her empty chair was just too distracting and we were certain poor exam grades would be the result. The last day of class my students were going through old projects and found Jessica's last one. It was a fashion forecast which she did a really good job on. They asked me what to do with it and I just couldn't tell them to throw it away so I let them hang it up. It's still there, her name is on the back so no one knows who it belongs to but me. Graduation was the last hurdle to go through before we could really put this death behind us and move on. Jessica's chair was left empty and her cap and gown were draped there. Everyone wore a silver star over their hearts in remembrance and her brother accepted her diploma. Other than that it was all about the students and it was thankfully not a sad event! I'm still sad about this, but now that summer is here and I'm not in the building anymore I can move on and so can the rest of the school! I'll always remember Jessica fondly and hopefully this is something I will never have to go through again in my career!

About Me

Noah and I were married August 20, 2005. We have been very blessed in these almost six years. In 2006 I graduated from ODU and we bought our first home! In 2007 we welcomed our perfect little girl into the world. Izabel Nicole was born October 8, 2007. Then on April 8, 2009 we welcomed our amazing son Tanner Wayne. Who knows what the future will bring, we're just very happy living in the present!